Assianos



J F. WILCOMB. I KNITTING INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATTON FILED APR. 10. 1920.

Patented Nov. 29, 1921.

Mae a5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NEEDLE COMPANY, 01* PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF RHODE ESLAND.

KNITTING EISTRUMENI.

1,ses,s21.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 29, 1921.

Application filed April 10, 1920. Serial No. 372,946.

To all 10 7mm in may con cern Be it known that l, J. FRANK NncooMB, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Worcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Knitting Instruments, of which the following description, in con nection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to knitting mechanisms but more particularly to the knitting instruments thereof, said instruments being designed to produce the desirable results attainable with latch needles or with spring beard needles, especially the latter while the objectionable features so often, in fact invariably, resulting from the use of these types 01"? needles will be avoided, and many new and desirable results will be secured as will hereinarter appear.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the tollowing specification and particularly pointed out in the claims.

in the accompanying drawings 1 have shown merely for purposes of illustration examples of knitting instruments embodying the features of this invention wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the instrument in its entirety;

Fig. l is a transverse section taken on the line 6, Fig. 1;

F 2 is a detail View of the functioning port-ions of the yarn drawing element and quill in their loop shedding positions and with respect to the edge of the needle cylinder as represented by the line (6(6 a section -'ic being shown supported by the yarn 'ilg member;

3 is a view similar Fig. 2 illusthe yarn drawing element slightly 1* is a View similar Fig. 2 illustrat- -.rn drawing element and the quill the the the ill Fig. '7 is a detail View of the functioning ends of a modified form 01: knitting instrument;

Fig. 8 is a section through a portion of a knitting head illustrating two knitting instruments oi? the type shown in F 1, one in the upper and me other in the lower position with respect to a presser and Web holder; and

Fig. 9 is a detail plan of a portion of the presser shown in F 7.

in the drawings, referring particularly to Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive, 1 is the yarn drawing or yarn seizing element of the knitting instrument, consisting a hook 2 provided vith a resilient nib or spring heard 3 herein of the usual spring heard needle form. Furthermore said yarn drawing element has a tapered neclr 4i, a shark 5 and butt 6, by meairi of which latter the :t'unctioning of said yarn drawingelement may, from time to time, be eilectcd. The knitting instrument also embodies a quill 7 herein oi channcldlhe construction in cross section and within which said yarn drawing element is arra 1s 1 to slide. the quill 7 is provided loop penetrating member 8, the i i extninle consisting of a pointed nose 5) slightly inturneel toward the neck of said olred element to work within a groove 10 formed longitudinally of the back oi? said neck. The loop penet iting point or nose 9 is herein the :ti'omity of the hack or closed portion of said quill and coiiperating with said point are loop expanding, spreading or shaping member, 11 and 12, said menih .s together forming what is herein designated a hump 16, the bulk of which is cispcsed upon the hook side of the so to form n or eye within :Unch the heard point '13 is buried when the loop is to he shed. These loop ex anding members are preferably iormed hy inclining .l. oppo te walls of said. quill from said point 9 t. ard the heard the yarn drawing element and terminating said hump 16, said members being extended to ward said heard in the present example to form a nucate sutlicient in depth only to cover said point 13 of the card when said heard is in its depressed state as shown in Fig. 5. Said members 11 and 1:2 are of less depth from front to back than the normal opening or space between the beard point and the neck of the yarn drawing member.

t will be observed that I provide means to depress the heard to move th point thereof from a position normally outside the range of said loop spreading element, into the range thereof, without causing the point of said beard to seat or come into contact with the neck of the yarn drawing member.

The members 11 and 12 which, as pre viously stated, constitute together with the point 9 the loop penetrating and loop expanding members oi the quill, are in the present example capable of expanding the loop upon each side of the beardsutlicient to receive the point of the beard, but by extending far enough to accomplish this result saidside walls will also the better serve as means to prevent lateral displacement of the point of said beard while positioned between said walls, even though said beard be made of. exceedingly light material.

From the point oi its greatest depth the side walls 11 and 12 of the hump are reversely inclined or curved at 19 to form what is herein termed a threat 20 provided particularly to receive the old loop and separate it from the new yarn that is laid upon the other side oi the hump 16 against the neck of the hook (see Figs. and 5).

Where a positive independent movement isto be given to the quill as well as to the yarn drawing member a butt 22 is provided and acted upon together withthe butts 6 by means such for example as knitting cams, not shown, and herein l: have formed such a butt as a lateral extension ot the sides or said quill and between these extensions and the adjacent portion of said quill a filler block 23 is inserted which constitutes a reinforcement for the portions of said side walls that. form said butt, also a guide for the shank of said yarn drawing member and, if desired, a stop for the butt 6 of said latter member. The two elements of the knitting instrument thus equipped may be operated separately at will and, from time to time, to perform their various functions and. for illustrating the most important of said functions Figs. 2 to 6 inclusive are provided. In Fig. 2 the loop forming portions of the instrument are shown below a line a-a incheating the upper edge of the instrument carrier and these positions indicate s l parts as they would appear immediately following the shedding of a loop, the web being suspended from the hook in the usual manner. r

Fig. 3 illustrates the next step in the knitting operation wherein the hook has been slightly advanced and the loop penetrating nose of the sheath is in its position preparatory to being moved to penetrate said loop. The next step represented in Fig. 4: shows the two elements of the knitting instrument in their advanced positions, the loop penetrating element and the hump having been passed through the old loop so as to place said loop within the throat 20 of the quill and new yarn is shown laid across the neck of the needle below the point of the beard and resting against the inclined edges 11 of said quill. From this illustration it will be seen that the new yarn and the old loop are widely separated one from the other by the hump '16 thus providing a definite alinement of old loops and new yarn with ample space for the beard of the needle-to pass therebetween without causing injury to either of the yarns and without danger of pressing the beard ahead or the new yarn which would result in both the old loop and new yarn being cast off at the same time, an incident common to knitting machines employing the regular spring beard needle because there is very little, and in some cases no definite line of separation between the new yarn and the old-loop.

Fig. 5 illustrates the next step in the operation of knitting wherein the point 13 01"- the beard has been moved into alinement with the hump 16 and depressed. between the walls 11 and 12 of said hump by means of a suitable presser A in preparation for the shedding of the loop herein shown resting within the throat 20, over the yarn held within the hook 2, and Fig. 6 illustrates the ing of the yarn drawing element between the walls of the channel-like quill provides ample support for said yarn drawing element, permitting the latter element to be made of a very much smaller or liner wire in consequence whereof the b ad of the hook may be made much smaller to facilitate shedding and still retain the usual opening or space between the beard and the neck of the hook for the yarn to reeve therethrough.

The extending of the walls 11 and along each side oi the hook to form the bump LO dispenses with the forming of a nucate or eye in the needle stem and the.

consequent necessity of pressing the point of the beard solidly against the stem of the needle which, in the ordinary spring beard needle, is directly responsible for deadening needle beards and destroying the contour oi: th boards, and consequently causing imp-en iiections in the work. The constant poundin of the delicate point of the beard against the hard metallic surface of the needle stem o by the beard presser, causes said point to be bent or dulled and rough edges and indentations are produced in the neck of the needle which contacts the yarn that must be drawn thereover producing defective wales in a knitted fabric.

ll here a quill such as herein described is used in connection with spring bearded yarn drawing elements the instruments so formed may be used equally well in direct-feed or sinker-fed machines without producing any of the objectionable results recited for the reason that only a slight depression or" the heard is required, and hence the normal hook opening and original needle beard contour will be retained indefinitely.

The desirability of the resilient or spring beard over the non-resilient beard hinges largely upon the result of the small quill hump so that the loop expansion during the sliiedoing thereof may be reduced to a minimunn but the hump should be large enough so that it will provide an opening in the loop that will receive the point oi the heard when said beard is sli htly depressed.

In Fig, 7 I have illustrated a. knitting instrument of a slightly diilerent type of hook wherein 22 is the yarn drawing member including a substantially straight resilient or spring beard 2e pointed at 2% with said point 24 disposed at the usual distance from the neck 25 of said yarn drawing instrument. A quill '26 similar in construction to the c ill hereinbefore described is mounted upon and adapted to move relatively to said yarn drawing member, said quill having a hump 2? consisting oi sidewalls arranged upon opposite sides of the yarn drawing member similar to the side walls 11 and 12 of the previous form. The quill 26 is also herein provided with a nose 28 arranged to move along the back of the yarn drawing ier and for the purpose hereinbeiiore deed. its will be seen by referring to 1 the point 24 of the beard of said instrument is normally outside of the range of the hump 27. Consequently any relative longitudinal movement between the quill and yarn drawii g member will not bury the point thereof within the hump and theretore the be i l would not enter the loop that has been penetratedand expanded over the nd 0'? the quill until the end thereof has been depressed. The depressing of the beards of either of the types or instruments may be accomplished by various onus of pressers and in Figs. 8 and 9 I are illustrated as a matter of convenience commonly termed a ring presser and to illustrate this I have shown the .ing instrument otthe form disclosed in l ig, l mounted within a groove 30 of a common type of needle cylinder 31 and aroutside and substantially concentric with said needle cylinder is the presser 14;

herein constructed in the form of a ring 32. This beard presser is provided with a series or notches 38 in its inner periphery corresponding in number to the number of in struments used and through which the beards oi the needles are adapted to pass during knitting. The upper edge of the presser 32 is beveled at 3a and when said beveled portion is engaged by the point of the downwardly moving beard 3 of said instrument said beard will be depressed just far enough to cause the point 13 thereof" to enter the space between the side walls oi the hump l, or in other words to pass through the loop that is being expanded or spread by said hump. The ring 32 may be, and herein is, shown mounted above the web holders 35 upon the usual bed ring 36 carried by the needle cylinder 31 and having radial grooves 86 to receive the web holders. The ring 32 and the web holders are held in place by a cap ring 37. The proper alinement of the notches with the needles is maintained by slots 3s provided in the under side of the ring 32 and into which slots portions of the web holders project from the grooves 36 of said ring.

Obviously various results may be obtained in the character oikni'tting by employing hooks of various forms and in the nor that such changes are effect-2d in ildin ry spring beard needle macl'iinc.

it is evident that said loop p member will, in the present ext A the two sides of the loop near whe loop is entered and will continue to open said loop progressively from the in point of engagement toward the hook s thereof. Therefore the loop will l opened, shaped or expanded or thc therethrough 01'? the hook and the ne held by said hook.

lVithin the scope and ent invention the instrument herein llll) and descri ed may be used eithe in crochetmg, lace making or in knitting 7. l

by machine nd although I have the work produced by the ins i nu.

as kmtting it is distinctly to be understood that such term incliu not o I but croche lace my rics and while I have h *in shown scribed. merely for illustrative 'iurp' tain embodiments (it my inve n a i c. l

disclosed and discussed in dr the struction and arrangement inci ental to such dissclosure, it is to be UlllQlSiOOil that details to eciiic up; means but that extensive trations may be made witiout from the principles thereof.

' Claims:

1. A loop firming instrument com irisin ment including a resilient bearded yarndrawing element and an independently movtwo relatively slidable elements, one of said elements having a spring beard hook for the new yarn and the other of said elements inclur. ng means for penetrating the oil loop at the back of the first mentioned element and progressively engaging the sides or said loop toward the front of the needle to spread said old loop for the reception of the extremity of said spring beard, and means for positioning the extremity of said beard within the range of said spread loop.

2. A knitting instrument comprising a hooked yarn drawing element having a re silient beard, means to penetrate the loop at the back or said yarn drawing element including two forwardly inclined walls between which th hooked element is arranged to slide, said walls being adapted to open the loop for the reception oi" said beard and to provide lateral support for said board, and means to press said heard between said loop opening walls.

A knitting instrument comprising a hooked yarn drawing element having a spring heard, a quill having a loop penetrating member at the back of the yarn drawing elementand loop opening members of less depth than the opening between the beard point and the neck of the yarn drawing member, said loop opening member extending :t'orwardly from said loop penetrating member at opposite sides of said yarn drawelement adaptedto initiate the opening 0i said loop and means for pressing said board into the range of said opened loop.

4. A knitting instrument comprising a hooked yarn drawing element having a spring heard, an element slidably embracing the hooked element and having means to effect an inital expansion of the loop and to separate said loop from the new yarn, and means for pressing said beard into the range of said expanded loop.

5. In combination, a'loop forming instruable loop penetrating and loop spreading element, and means to depress said heard to move the point thereof from a position normally outside the range of said loop spreading element into the range thereof whereby the loop spread thereby may be shed from said heard.

6. In Combination, a loop forming instrument including a resilient bearded yarn drawing element and an independently movable loop penetrating and loop spreading element, and means to depress said board to move the point thereof from a position normally outside the range 01" said loop spreading meanslinto the range thereof without causing the point of aid board to seat.

7. A knitting instrument comprising a spring bearded yarn drawing element, a relatively movable loop engaging element having means to penetrate. the loop at a point remote from that portion of the loop engagingthe beard sideof said yarn drawingelementand tospread saidloop toward said beard, and a presser to depress said beard from a position normally outside the range of said loop: spreading means into the range thereof whereby said loop may be shed from said yarn drawing element.

8; In combination, a knitting instrument comprising two relatively slid-able elements, one having a hooked yarn drawing element and the other being a loop controlling element of channel form in cross section to receive said yarn drawingelement, said loop controlling element having the open side of the channel on thehook side of the yarn drawingelement, and a presser to. depress the extremity ofthe hookof saidyarn drawing element from a position outside to one within range of the walls of the channel of the loo controlling element whereby the loop may "cast'ofli over said hooks 9. In combination, a knitting instrument comprising two relatively'slidable elements, onehaving a hooked yarn drawing element and the other being a loop controlling element of channel form in cross section to receive said yarn drawing element, said loop controlling element having the open side of the channel on thehook side of the yarn drawingielement, and a presserto depress the extremity oi the hook or said yarn drawing element from a position outside to one within range: of the walls of the channel or the loop'controlling element whereby the loopmay be cast elf over said hook, said channel shaped element having a throat to divide the old loopfrom the'new yarn.

10. A- loop forming-instrument comprising a hooked yarn drawing element and a loop controlling element, the latter having anose topenetrate the loop at the back of Y the hooked element and awall at each side of the hookedelement rising on an incline from the nose-and providing a two walled hump'with a space between its walls adapted to receive the hook, said'hook being of the spring beardtype, and meansfor pressing the beard into said space and toward the stem of the hooked clement, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name'to this specification. r

J. FRANK WVILCOMB. 

